The attitude of patients with mental disorders towards pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments: emerging implications for clinical practice, service organization and research

Abstract

In recent years there has been a growing interest for exploring and describing the attitude of patients towards treatments provided by professionals working in mental health services. Not only the interest has been focused on whether patients perceive drug treatments as beneficial or harmful, but also on what patients think about non-phar-macological interventions, including psychological thera-pies and rehabilitative intervention programs provided by day-care centres, self-help groups or outpatient facilities. In the present issue of Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale three Editorials discuss the current state of the art on this topic, and highlight the profound implications that the subjective attitude of patients may have in determining the long-term success or failure of comprehensive and articulated treatment plans.